An abandoned and run down former cement factory, the decrepit lot on Riverview Drive had become a common site for local construction crews to dump truckloads of excess dirt and rock. The old factory meant so little, no one cared or tried to reroute them.

But when Sculptor Bob Cassilly looked at the site, he saw something more. He saw an amusement park celebrating the history of cement production in St. Louis, filled with statues and sculptures and old machinery turned into fascinating attractions, and that's what he began to build in the space.

Locations with formerly booming industries often find themselves with the opportunity to celebrate their cultural and economic history with an amusement park exhibiting that glory. Southern Indiana, known for its famous limestone quarries, has its half-constructed limestone pyramid. In Vietnam, there is the Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park, celebrating the local Buddhist tradition.

Bob Cassilly wanted to put St. Louis' name on the oddball amusement park map.

So he got a bulldozer and combined it with his artistic ambition. The park would fit right in with his long history of whimsical, playful sculptures and projects, all hinging on the intersection between childhood nostalgia and subversive counterculture. He invited the construction crews to keep dumping their leftover dirt — it was simply more material for him to play with. To create with.

Before long he had created a castle of sorts out of the old factory, with a courtyard of sculpted creations made of cement, rock, metal and antique machinery. Bridges spanned spillways and depressions where water would collect into pools to form moats and ponds. In short order, people caught notice, and couldn't wait to see what the project, still in its infancy, would eventually become.

Unfortunately, in 2011, Cassilly tragically died when the bulldozer he was operating tipped off of an unstable ledge and rolled over. He died doing what he loved, but what he loved was far from finished.

Today, the unfinished park is an attractive spot for oddity searchers, sculpture fans, graffiti artists and late-night teenagers. There are no illusions that it is complete or well-maintained at this point, but Giovanna Cassilly hopes to keep the project going, and has launched a website to collect inquiries and information for curious and supportive fans.

Memorials to Cassilly have been held in the park, candlelight vigils and the launching of lit balloons into the night sky. But perhaps the best memorial to the man, his life, and his ideas, is all around you when you visit — the park itself.